The X-Files: Cold Cases is an X-Files episode for your ears

What is this about?: Mulder and Scully doing what they do best, only this time it involves some pretty familiar plot points from the series like Skyland Mountain, the Purity virus, and stilettos — the kind that get pushed into the back of an alien’s neck.

What else is this about?: For me at least, a healthy dose of nostalgia and love for this series. Think of this as a bubble within the X-Files timeline you know so well and just go with the flow.

Stars: 3.5/5

Blurb:The series that had a generation looking to the sky gets a breathtaking audio reprise in an original full-cast dramatization featuring actors David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson returning to voice FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Based upon the graphic novels by Joe Harris – with creative direction from series creator Chris Carter – and adapted specifically for the audio format by aural auteur Dirk Maggs (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Alien: Out of the Shadows), Cold Cases marks yet another thrilling addition to the pantheon of X-Files stories. Featuring a mind-blowing and otherworldly soundscape of liquefying aliens, hissing creatures, and humming spacecraft, listeners get to experience the duo’s investigations like never before.

Set after the events of The X-Files: I Want to Believe and providing additional backstory to the incidents that pulled Mulder and Scully out of reclusion prior to 2016’s miniseries revival, a database breach at FBI headquarters allows an unknown group to access and capitalize on those investigations left unsolved – dubbed cold cases – by the secret department once known as The X-Files. As friends and foes of the agency long thought gone begin to inexplicably reappear, former agents Mulder and Scully come out of anonymity to face a growing conspiracy that involves not only their former department but the US government and forces not of this world.

Here, fans are treated once again to Mulder and Scully’s irreplicable chemistry as only the series’ leads could deliver, Duchovny’s deadpan and cynical aloofness finding its natural counterpoint in Anderson’s unwavering intelligence and rigidity. Appearances from series regulars and the actors who made them fan favorites round out this must-listen arc: the gruff, no-BS righteousness of Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi); the distinctive click-puff of the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis); and the stooge-like hijinks of three beloved conspiracy theorists called the Lone Gunmen (Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, and Bruce Harwood).

Whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, find your “I Want to Believe” poster. Break out that makeshift alien stiletto. Grab a pack of Morley cigarettes.The truth is out there. You just have to listen.

Join the conversation: #istillwanttobelieve

I am going to make no bones about the fact that I wanted to listen to The X-Files Cold Cases because the cast of the show was in it, doing the parts they’ve done so well for decades now.

And it absolutely works, with Duchovny and Anderson giving me the shivers as I listened to them fight aliens, argue and investigate SIX different cases on the audiobook. And Skinner! Ah, Walter, I miss your beautiful bald head!

This succeeds in giving me the vibe of a mini Xfiles season, I think. There are filler episodes, and there are the ones you listen to every chance you get because they’re brilliant.

Bloody hell, I miss this show!

There were some interesting choices made here, and to go into too much detail is going to spoil the audiobook and also confuse anyone who doesn’t know the Xfiles and the mythology that the show has built up. I will say, I do think this is meant for fans of the show and its mythology.

I was curious though about the choice to refer to William as Scully’s child.Because it opens up a deep chasm between Mulder and Scully for me — any ideas why, guys?

Listening to this was falling into a world I’ve lived since the show first started, and I loved it. #IStillWanttoBelieve

I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never watched an episode of the X-Files. I do know several diehard fans of the series though so I’m definitely going to let them know about this since it does sound pretty great. Thanks for sharing!